Main menu

You are here

No. 769 - SEE IT IN YOUR MIND'S EYE

No. 769

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

SEE IT IN YOUR MIND’S EYE

The human mind is the greatest agency ever to appear on the face of the earth. From this small mass of gray matter has hatched every thought, idea, invention and advancement that has moved the human race forward right up to the present time. A great miracle takes place when a child is born, created in the image of God, because he has the intrinsic potential to learn, grow and make a contribution to his fellow human beings. This child is the product of a genetic pool that goes back thousands and thousands of years. The child’s parents determine, to a large degree, his success or failure and his role in society. There is an old Chinese Proverb that says, “If you are planning for one year, sow rice. If you are planning for a decade, plant trees, but if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.”
Now, in view of what I have just shared, this question please: What are you doing with your mind? Are you using it to anywhere near its potential? It is in this context that I would like to share a very simple analogy that could make all the difference in the world in your life, especially if you are not using that marvelous mind that God has given you, to do and have the things you really desire. It can be truthfully stated that none of us use our minds to anywhere near its real potential. It has been reported that Albert Einstein used only 10 percent of his mental capacity, so you can see mother lode where I am staking out a claim.
The analogy that I referred to took place several weeks ago while I was building a trellis to support a “trumpet” vine that I had planted in the yard. A friend had given me several four-inch by four-inch treated posts that were about seven feet long. I had previously built a compost bin, using five feet high wire, to hold leaves, and had wrapped it around several pine trees to fashion a pen. When this project was finished, I had a four foot piece of fence wire left over. Rather, than throw it away, I just tossed it aside.
Well, it came in handy. I took this wire and some staples and tacked the wire to a couple of these treated posts. These posts were long enough to have about two feet in the ground and still have five feet sticking up above ground to support the trellis. Now, here is where my mind took over. I had been using some one-in by four-inch treated boards on another project and I saw a way to cover the wire edges, cut the boards to length for both the cross boards and those that would be straight up and down and use screws to hold them in place. It worked like a charm and the “trumpet” vine or cross vine, as it’s called, looks great and is now beginning to cover the trellis.
The concept or principle that I have just shared may sound too simple, but believe me, when properly understood, it is powerful. Our marvelous mind has the power to help us achieve or have most anything we desire. The key is to see the goal or object in our mind – to not only see it, but also experience the feeling we will have when we achieve it. Should you want a new home, see that home in vivid and complete detail, and also how you will feel living in it. The same is true for any other tangible object or thing you desire, but once you see it clearly, and it’s within the realm of possibility, then we must follow through and make it come true.
The French Philosopher Blaise Paschal had this to say about the mind, “Our mind holds the same position in the world of thought as our body occupies in the expanse of nature.” Whatever we want, we must first see it, in our mind’s eye.
---
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)